Joy Filled Eats Natural Sweetener
Looking for an all natural and economical sugar-free sweetener that actually tastes good? You need to try my natural sweetener blend! I’ve found that by using a combination of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia I can save money while enjoying a low carb sweetener that tastes just like sugar.
Joy Filled Eats Natural Sweetener Blend – Xylitol, Erythritol, & Stevia – Low Carb, Keto, Trim Healthy Mama, Diabetic Friendly, Sugar Free
When I started the Trim Healthy Mama diet I was leery about all the recipes using stevia because I have never liked it. All of the grocery store varieties and even the flavored liquid drops have a bitter aftertaste to me. In the past when I stopped using sugar on the South Beach Diet I used artificial sweeteners to replace it. Over the years I’ve read more about the negative effects of artificial sweeteners and I knew I needed to give stevia another try.
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I heard that the Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet natural sweetener, which is a blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia, was a game changer so I thought I would give it a try. It really changed my perception of stevia. It had no aftertaste or bitterness.
Because we have a strict food budget I became determined to come up with my own blend of erythritol, xylitol, and stevia. I try to save as many pennies as I can when I shop. Making my own sweeteners, baking mixes, seasonings, and cooking from scratch saves the most.
These Tagalong Cupcakes are one use for my sweetener. Don’t they look yummy? They are sugar-free! But you would never know. Even my husband who isn’t a dessert guy loved them.
You can now mix up your own sweetener that measures just like Gentle Sweet. If you are on a tight budget this helps with this way of eating immensely. I use this sweetener in all my dessert recipes and I’ve subbed in it recipes from the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook like the Trimtastic Cake.
You can make everything from Sweetened Condensed Milk to Caramel with this recipe and more.
If you grind this in a food processor it works great as a low carb powdered sugar. It is the best out of the low carb and keto sweeteners!
Ingredients in Joy Filled Eats Sweetener
Xylitol is a natural sweetener. It is a sugar alcohol made from birch trees or corncobs. It has 40% fewer calories than sugar and is a 7 on the glycemic index (white sugar is a 64). Please note that xylitol can be fatal to dogs so don’t share treats containing xylitol with your furry friends.
Erythritol is a sugar alcohol like xylitol. It occurs naturally in some fruits and vegetables It has zero calories and no impact on blood sugar. It is produced from glucose by fermentation with yeast.
Stevia is a plant discovered in South America. To make stevia powder a water extraction method is typically used. Stevia is 100 to 200 times sweeter than sugar so a little goes a long way.
Where Do I Buy Sweetener Ingredients?
My natural sweetener recipe is easy and economical. There are many choices on where to order the ingredients from. And I’ve used several brands of these products successfully.
I personally order the ingredients for this natural sweetener from amazon, walmart, thrive market, and iherb.
Thrive Market: My Thrive Market Coupon works on everything from sweeteners and baking supplies to vitamins and beauty products! Thrive has great prices on coconut products, spices, organic health items, baby food, and more especially since they often will email codes for an additional 25-30% off your entire order. Head over to this post to see more of the latest deals at Thrive. My favorite deal is always getting Lily’s Chocolate Chips for $4 a bag!
iherb:
If you are ordering from iherb you save $5 with my link. Generally, you can get the ingredients to make for under $8 a pound. Free shipping is on orders over $20.
I ordered the ingredients from iherb with free shipping. They have a lot of products that work for Keto, Low Carb, and Trim Healthy Mama eating plans. Other products they have that are compatible with THM are oat fiber, psyllium husks, whey protein powder, coconut flour, almond flour, etc. etc. This link takes you right to iherb so you can start making your own sugar free sweetener! Just put each ingredient into the search bar and add to your cart. It’s cheaper to buy the 2.5 pounds but they also have 1 pound bags if you’d like to go small before you commit to a huge bag. It is very very easy.
Amazon:
With free one day and two-day Prime shipping, Amazon is where I order from most often. I can consistently get xylitol and erythritol inexpensively. I buy the largest size stevia and it lasts me about 2 years. And I bake A LOT.
I have tried all of these brands and just buy whichever is the cheapest on the day I order! No big deal.
Walmart:
Over the last year or so I’ve been buying more and more groceries from Walmart. They offer free shipping over $35 and have many low carb products in addition to having more choices in the store.
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Joy Filled Eats Natural Sweetener - Low Carb, THM, Sugar Free
Ingredients
Weight measurements:
- 16 oz xylitol *** (or allulose)
- 12 oz erythritol (or allulose)
- 2 tsp Better Stevia or any pure stevia extract
Cup measurements:
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons xylitol (or allulose)
- 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons erythritol (or allulose)
- 2 tsp Better Stevia or any pure stevia extract
Instructions
Powdered Sweetener
- Process the ingredients in the food processor for a few minutes if you are planning on using it in chocolate, beverages, or icing.
Granular Sweetener
- For baking and candy making, you can just mix the ingredients together by hand.
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that xylitol is fatal to dogs so don’t share treats containing xylitol with your furry friends. You may prefer to not have it in your pet-friendly house at all.
I’ve wondered about your comment regarding Pyure in all your recipes. Since your own blend is twice the sweetness of sugar, why do you mention to use half as much Pyure? Pyure is also twice as sweet as sugar… thanks in advance! Btw, love your recipes, making cranberry bliss bars again today.
From my experience and reader comments using the same amount of pyure results in desserts that are too sweet.
I found this conversion chart if you don’t have pure stevia leaf powder and must use the adulterated version that has maltodextrin in it. https://www.stevia.net/conversion.html
I use half the “conversion” of 1 Cup not 2 Cups of adulterated stevia to 2 tsp. Pure Unadulterated Stevia.
I haven’t tried this yet – just came across the recipe for your low carb oatmeal scotchies (which I would love to try) and clicked on the link to this recipe. I’m commenting just to thank you for including weights in your recipe and not just cups, etc. It really makes a huge difference (as you know, I’m sure). Including the “cup measurements” for those who may not have a scale was a very thoughtful thing to do.
I am trying to get my husband to do low carb and to reduce his sugar intake because he has a huge sweet tooth. I’m hoping I can sneak one by him, because when it comes to sugar substitutes, he doth protest much! lol
I just made your sweetner and used it for gentle sweet in the oatmeal raisin cookies. I tasted the dough and it was super sweet! So I added extra ingredients. Have u ever found different brands of sweeteners to be sweeter than others? It’s also a little bitter. …
The bitterness may be from the brand of stevia you used. That can affect the sweetness too. I use Better Stevia from Now Foods.
I’m new to keto baking. Why is it necessary to use three different artificial sweeteners and the purpose of each? Also, what is the “cooling effect”? I live alone and don’t bake more than one or two times a month. Will the mix have as long a shelf life as storing the items alone? Thanks so much. Your recipes are helping me to stay on my diabetic diet.
I believe all of these questions are answered in the blog post above.
These are all natural derived sweeteners, not artificial sweeteners.
The cooling affect is from the erythritol. It leaves a minty feeling in your mouth.
Yes, they have a very long shelf life. Up to a year if you use fresh ingredients.
Did you have any problems with it getting crystallized on the top? I HAVE NOT (I repeat have not Lol) made this recipe. However whenever I use erythritol ONLY, which I’ve done in jams and jelly’s, it’s gets these hard crystals on the top. I wanted to make sure this blend of sweetener does not.
Hi Chavone, I’ve never had it crystallize in jams. If you make caramel sauce or candies it eventually begins to recrystallize but that takes weeks in the fridge.
Can I use Monk fruit extract powder (300 times sweeter than sugar) instead of Stevie extract powder?
I have not tested that but I think it would work. I actually have a jar in my cabinet to test this soon.
that’d be amazing. if you test it, please let me know, although I believe it should as both Stevia and Monk fruit powder are 200-300 sweeter than normal sugar 🙂
I made your blend for gentle sweet & I love it! Saves me so much money. Do you have a recipe for copycat super sweet?
They have it right in their sweetener chart: https://trimhealthymama.com/#usefulinfo
How do I know how much of this blend to use in recipes? What’s it equivalent to? Thanks!
It is twice as sweet as sugar.
If a recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar use 1/2 cup of my sweetener.
Just mixed this up and I do not notice any ‘cooling’ or any bitterness–the sweetness was great. I wish I could test blood sugar, though. And I can’t imagine it’s actually affordable. I paid $37 for small bags and the stevia little container at Amazon. I can’t imagine it making more than four or five cups or so of sweetener for baking, etc. I will look around for cheaper (and larger) sources. The taste is quite acceptable. We did not like at all the Erythritol and Monk Fruit we got at Costco two weeks ago. Gritty and not sweet.
You definitely need to shop around. For $37 I can make 6-7 pounds. Choose bigger bags (5 lb bags are normally cheapest per pound) of xylitol and erythritol to save the most. And one little container of stevia will last a long time since you only use 2 tsp.
If I wanted to make it with just erythritol and Stevia, what would the exact recipe be? What do you consider the main advantage of adding the zylitol? Because I heard it’s much worse than erythritol when it comes to digestive problems. Also, what is allulose? And why would I use that instead of the zylitol or erythritol? Are the measurements the same? Thank you SO much for all the info! I’m just learning! Can’t wait to try your lemon pound cake!
1. You would replace the xylitol with erythritol. So you would use 28 oz of erythritol and 2 tsp of stevia. Erythritol has a minty cooling effect that can be undesirable. That is why I use it combined with xylitol.
2. Allulose is just another sweetener from sugar alcohols like the other two. Some people prefer it. You can sub it for the xylitol or the erythritol.
Hi again Taryn,
So does allulose have any cooling effect or cause digestive problems like the zylitol? Do you think it would be better if I substituted the allulose for the zylitol instead of using all that eyrithritol? Would that help with the cooling effect or would it be the same? Also, are all of the measurements the same with all three of those sweeteners?
Thank you! 🙂
Allulose does not have a cooling effect. I have not heard of allulose causing digestive issues. The worst one of all for digestive issues is maltitol which is found in many store-bought sugar-free candies.
As long as you have 28 oz of sugar alcohol sweetener to 2 tsp of stevia you can play around with the measurements. You could even try using all 3 together.
Hi Taryn! Thank you so much for your lovely recipes–my family enjoys them often!
I’ve been making your sweetener blend for a long time but now need to change out the xylitol. Do you happen to know how much allulose I should use to replace it? I tried just leaving out the xylitol but we don’t like that.
Thank you, Wendy. You can use the same amount of allulose.
Thank you. I had the same question. Xylitol spiked my blood sugar. It doesn’t do that to most people. But it does to me 🙁, and I try to only have it sparingly, in dental products.
The lemon pound cake was pretty good and my husband really enjoyed it. I just used monkfruit (erythritol) since that’s all I had on hand & it came out fine. My father is diabetic and I wanted to stick to the monkfruit for him to try it & he also enjoyed it. Thanks.
I have a friend who can’t tolerate erythritol. It gives her digestive issues. I am trying to find a good substitute since everything else is a blend with erythritol and baked good don’t always turn out well with pure stevia. Any suggestions?
Has she tried allulose? Maybe a combination of allulose and xylitol.
Hello,
In regards to Julia’s comment and my question, there is pure erythritol and then there is erythritol mixed with maltodextrin;
Is your recipe that includes Erytritol without maltodextrin?
Your recipe shows Erythritol and Xylitol which are both available without maltodextrin, but it is not clear in your recipe.
The Stevia I can find in local stores comes only mixed with maltodextrin, agreeably there is so little stevia in your recipe that one really need not worry.
Would you clarify in your recipe which have maltodextrin and which do not?
I am new to Keto and love it but I know when it is not real sugar because I can really taste the bitterness and the cooling effect of the sweeteners. Will this combination remove the COOLING EFFECT taste of erythritol as well as the bitterness? Thanks
Yes, in my opinion, it really does. That is why I developed this recipe and use it in all of my desserts.
Can THM be substituted 1:1 for Swerve
Which THM sweetener?
Swerve is substituted one for one for sugar. If you’re using this blend it is half as much of this blend as sugar or the same amount of this blend as THM gentle sweet
I currently use Whole Earth Stevia Leaf & Monk fruit sweetener for my coffee. Can I use your sweetener in my coffee?
One more question have you compared the cost of your sweetener to Trim Healthy Mama Gentle that you talk about?
Thanks
Yes, this is great in coffee. I use it myself every morning.
The last time I checked on prices my blend comes to between $4-5 a pound. A 3 lb bag of Gentle Sweet is currently $28.99 plus shipping. That comes to a savings of at least $5 a pound.
There is an initial upfront cost of buying a big bag or container of stevia extract when you decide to try my sweetener so the first batch might not have as big of a savings but you use such a small amount of stevia so you won’t have to buy it again for a while.
I have swerve, which says it is erythritol mainly. Could I use this? Also we have dogs so what would be my measurements without the xylitol?
You can add stevia to the swerve so you need less of it (making to comparable to my sweetener). I haven’t tested it but I think you would add 1 tsp to 14 oz.
I have said I was going to make your sweetener for a month now. I made it today. What a revelation. It is truly great. I was a tad skeptical about it not having an after taste. I do use truvia and brown sugar truvia. They have a slight after taste but does not bother me. But this has not after or bitter taste. Thanks so much for this. I make your cheese cake fluff often and have made it with monk fruit and its good but I imagine with this sweetener, it will be even better. I did not tell my family the first time I made the fluff that it was sugar free. I used sugar free raspberry sauce and zero sugar hersheys chocolate syrup. It was so good. They all loved it. then I told them it was all sugar free. After they got over the shock It is now the dessert my kids ask for when we all get together. I am making it again tomorrow with your mix and see how it is .I am also making your caramel sauce and putting toasted almonds on top. I want to make it tonight but I don”t need to be eating it before bed. Lol
When your recipe calls for a half cup and you say to use another one in a half mor if its nit your recipe does that mean half cup plus one and a half more cups of sweetner?
No, if my sweetener was 1/2 cup and you used 1.5 times that amount that would be 3/4 cup.
I am interested in making your sweetner combination. I have Pyrine that has erythritol and Stevia extract in it, Can I use this instead of getting all three ingredients?
I’m not sure what that is and how much of each ingredient it has. You could experiment with small amounts and use them in a single-serve recipe, like a mug cake, to see how it comes out.